All-Star Weekend kicks off in just five days, and that means the NBA’s rumor mill is just about to kick into its highest gear. The trade deadline on Feb. 21 looms, and these are some of the big topics around the league:

The big rumor

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard continues to be a lightning rod for unwanted attention, and when teammate Kobe Bryant said on Saturday, “I’m done talking about it. There’s nothing to talk about. I’m done with it. There’s nothing to discuss. It’s silly,” there was almost a sigh of relief from the organization and from Howard.

But as for what the last month or so means for Howard and his future in Los Angeles, the fact remains that not much has changed. He seems miserable, he has not meshed with his coach’s system, there is a perception that he was pressured into playing and even if Bryant is misinterpreted about Howard once in a while, it is obvious that the two have an oil-and-water chemistry going.

Yet, the Lakers have no intention of trading Howard, and want him to be the franchise cornerstone going forward.

Howard’s father told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his son probably will sign with the Lakers when he hits free agency this summer, and there is no question from the Lakers camp that a max offer would be made.

There are only two other possibilities, and these, too, have not changed since December 2011, when Howard first told the Orlando Magic he wanted to be traded and kicked off a 14-month nightmare—the Brooklyn Nets or Dallas Mavericks.

Brooklyn remains a long shot. The Lakers are not trading Howard at this year’s deadline, and the Nets are not asking about him—they’re looking for a scoring sixth man, and have inquired about the Charlotte Bobcats’ Ben Gordon.

After the season, a sign-and-trade between Brooklyn and the Lakers is possible but unlikely because the Nets have other issues to tend to, and because Lakers president Jim Buss won’t want to participate in sending the guy billed as the future franchise centerpiece elsewhere, no matter how disastrous this season has been.

Dallas remains the wild card here, because the Mavericks have cap space and don’t need a sign-and-trade to get a deal done.

Unlike Bryant, the Mavs’ aging star—Dirk Nowtizki—has a game that is much better suited to Howard’s on the floor and will be less prickly off the floor. It helps that the Mavericks have Rick Carlisle, too, one of the best coaches in the NBA, and a coach who is willing to adapt his style of play to the talent on hand, something Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni has never been able to do.

The other big rumor

The Boston Celtics remain the most fascinating of teams to watch as the deadline draws near, because conventional wisdom around the league held that, once Rajon Rondo went down for the season, team president Danny Ainge would finally pull the trigger on a full-scale rebuild—the injury to rookie power forward Jared Sullinger only bumped up that speculation.

In the absence of Rondo, the league’s leading assist man, the Celtics have been sharing the ball, playing better defense and showing better overall spirit. Reserves Jeff Green and Jason Terry, in particular, have taken on bigger roles.

So the notion of a teardown of this Celtics team has been shelved.

“For good or worse, that’s who we are,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s not like (Rondo or Sullinger) can play for us. So they’re a part of our team, and that’s how we look at it, but they just can’t play right now. And this is who we are. We’re going to mix and match. We knew this was going to be that type of game anyway with what they do, and then we’re winning games. We’ve got to keep it going.”

The under-the-radar rumor

J.J. Redick says he does not believe the Magic are looking to trade him.

While that may be so, in the delicate semantics of the rumor mill, it can be said that the Magic are fielding a number of offers for Redick, including a Central Division battle among the Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.

The Magic want a first-round pick in return, but for that price, any team that trades for Redick wants some idea whether he will re-sign as a free agent this summer.

That would be a gamble for Milwaukee, but the Bucks are bent on making a playoff push, so it would be a gamble worth taking.

The rumor that should be (but isn’t)

The Jazz have two looming free-agent big men, Millsap and Al Jefferson, and probably will trade at least one by the time the deadline strikes.

The Rockets are clinging to the No. 8 seed in the West, but are also thinking big-picture.

Patterson has had a very good year and has promise, but Millsap is the kind of versatile power forward who can bolster the Rockets, especially with his rebounding—and he would be likely to sign on to stay with Houston in the offseason.